Ingredients
3 large carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
10 large new potatoes quartered, skin on 
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 sticks of celery, chopped
1 small swede, peeled and diced 
2 handfuls of pearl barley
1l of vegetable stock
Salt and black pepper to taste

Prepare the vegetables and cut into generous chunks – this is no dainty soup. Add to a large pan with the pearl barley. Pour over enough vegetable stock to cover, add seasoning then simmer gently, lid on, for about an hour until the barley is fluffy and the veg is tender. Serve topped with pickled red cabbage or beetroot and enjoy with crusty bread and butter.

As kids, we were told that scouse came from the Vikings, along with our red hair. The name derives from Lobscouse, a stew of meat, onions and ship’s biscuits enjoyed by Scandinavian sailors, who brought it to Liverpool. Each family has its own recipe for scouse, and there is fierce debate as to its proper ingredients. In our house, Mum and Dad made scouse, each in their own distinctive style.

In the 70s, Mum’s version was thick and hearty, made with chunks of beef and old potatoes in the pressure cooker. I lived in terror of being asked to go and “put the weight on” the plume of steam emanating from the lid. Doing so caused a deafening cacophony of hissing and spluttering, whereupon I legged it in case the thing exploded. In the 80s, when money was tight, Dad made it with mince; his was a clearer stew cooked in a pan, where the potatoes remained recognisably intact.

These days, Mum makes blind scouse – slang for a version with no meat – and this is the one I love best. Using new potatoes instead of old keeps the broth clear. The addition of pearl barley gives texture. For me, the dish is incomplete without the traditional red pickled cabbage on top; its sour crunchiness is the perfect antidote to the warm, soft veg.

Global Scouse Day is on 28 February and, like scousers everywhere, I’ll be enjoying a bowl of our eponymous stew. It also happens to be Shrove Tuesday. Scouse and pancakes anyone? Now that might be a step too far.

© Jay McCarthy 2017
Image © Jay McCarthy

This piece appeared in The Guardian